The improved data transfer rate of USB 3.0 is starting to be taken advantage of with Buffalo being one of the first to show us what it is capable of. The company’s new external Blu-ray drive, called the BR-X1216U3, achieves 12x write speeds when connected via USB 3.0.

If your system does not have USB 3.0 yet the drive is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 meaning slower speeds of around 7x, but future-proofing for when the new standard does become a common edition to pre-built machines and motherboards. You also get 40x write speeds for CDs and up to 16x write speeds for DVDs making it a very capable drive regardless of what media you burn.

The drive measures 164 x 50 x 281mm and weighs 4 pounds, it also requires a separate power cable and is Windows 7 compatible.

Burning a 25GB Blu-ray disc is meant to take just 11 minutes. You are paying for that speed though, with the drive retailing in Japan for $450.

Unless you are desperately in need of a fast external Blu-ray burner then buying this drive carries a big premium and shouldn’t be considered. You won’t be able to use it with anything but the latest motherboards, which also carry a large premium right now, and use with a laptop is out of the question until USB 3.0 becomes more common.

This is an enthusiast or early adopter product, and you can guarantee that by the time USB 3.0 is the standard the same drive will be half this price and/or the competition will have caught up with competing drives and possibly even higher write speeds.

I expect USB 3.0 ports to start appearing more readily in hardware in the first quarter of next year and for it to be the new standard before the end of 2010. New products using it will still carry a premium, but it will be nowhere near as big as the products being released today, so wait before buying if you can.